Organizers of festivals and events are trying to have the new corona measures of the outgoing cabinet adjusted through the courts. More than thirty organizations jointly institute summary proceedings against the government. These include the organizers of the Paaspop and Zwarte Cross festivals.
They see the cabinet’s decision as “careless prepared and incorrect”. The judge asks them to allow public events that meet the Fieldlab requirements, i.e. visitors are welcome with a recent negative test.
ID&T, organizer of festivals such as Mysteryland and Milkshake, announced that it would go to court almost immediately after Friday’s press conference. “We agree with ID&T and the impending summary proceedings because of the enormous (financial) consequences that the resulting lack of clarity entails. We need to know where we, and the event industry, stand,” says Joop Soree, organizer of Paaspop and WiSH Outdoor.
Shaved over a comb
The organization behind the Grand Prix in Zandvoort also agrees. “It is impossible for us internationally to explain that we only have clarity about the conditions under which we can organize the event less than three weeks before the start of the event,” says Imre van Leeuwen, general director at F1 Dutch Grand Prix Zandvoort. The Formula 1 race is scheduled for early September.
Earlier today, the Association of Event Makers (VVEM) also spoke with various ministries. “Everything went well in the cabinet’s decisions on Friday. Everything was lumped together. Months of experience with Fieldlab experiments were thrown overboard. We did not look at what was possible,” says Willem Westermann of VVEM.
According to him, the talks were about compensation for the organizers and about more certainty about the situation at the end of August. “It can’t be that we don’t hear anything until August 13.” The House of Representatives will debate this subject on Wednesday.
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